Integration of communicative and geographical approaches in media-ecological research (by the example of the analysis of the largest newspapers from Russia, China and Japan)

Abstract

The article announces a new concept of media ecology as a scientific field of research within the framework of the paradigm of mediatization of the information space. The term “media ecology” is already used in science, but in a different conceptual meaning. The authors conducted its detuning from existing analogues at the terminological level, specified the field of scientific research of media ecology, designated its thematic field, defined methodological and theoretical bases and research tools. The possibility of using geographical and geoinformation research methods within the framework of the proposed concept is indicated. Examples of maps and geographical studies on media-ecological topics are given. The results of a pilot study on the analysis of empirical material by methods and tools of media ecology on the example of the largest newspaper publications of the three countries are also presented. These are “Rossiyskaya Gazeta” (edition of the Government of the Russian Federation), “Zhenmin Zhibao” (Publication of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China) and “Asahi Shimbun” (national newspaper of Japan). The study was conducted according to the method of communicative five-stage analysis with elements of comparative geographical analysis. The article contains an examination of the peculiarities of the environmental policy of the three countries, a comparative analysis of the format of publications and a frequency analysis of archives posted on the websites of publications. The authors also compared the traffic to the websites of publications and the average reading time of materials, analyzed the features of feedback and communication with readers. Conclusions are drawn about the degree of effectiveness of the communicative impact of the publications under consideration on the audience. The highest efficiency was found in the Japanese newspaper “Asahi Shimbun”, the average—in the “Russian newspaper”, and the lowest—in the Chinese “Zhenmin Zhibao”.